Prostitution Advances In A Wired World

How Technology Has Changed The World's Oldest Profession

(AP)  It may be the world's oldest profession, but prostitution is using some 21st-century tricks.

The prostitution scandal involving New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer lays bare some of the inner workings of modern-day sex work: text messaging to clock in the client, electronic fund transfers, a Web site featuring color photos, prices and rankings.

There's always been a distinction between indoor and street-level prostitution, and advances in technology have increasingly separated the two, said Ronald Weitzer, author of "Sex for Sale: Prostitution, Pornography and the Sex Industry."

Not only can prostitutes and escort services now run more efficient businesses, but they can leverage word-of-mouth advertising in new ways to build their brands and troll for clients. Online social communities built around the escort and sex worker industries can solidify customer loyalty.

"It's commercial, but it's also social, so people do really form relationships," says Audacia Ray, author of "Naked on the Internet: Hookups, Downloads, and Cashing in on Internet Sexploration" and a former sex worker.

"Clients become buddies," she said.

There are a host of online message boards where clients or potential clients can discuss, rate and exchange information about individual women.

A recent rating of one woman on the escort-review site www.bigdoggie.com reads: "She is the real deal. She's bright, funny, enthusiastic, beautiful, flawless body, really loves what she does."

Another woman got a bad review - not for her physical shortcomings, but for her communications etiquette: "... didn't return calls or e-mails. Irresponsible."

Such sites are natural places for escorts or prostitutes to advertise, linking to their own Web sites, a technique many sex workers use, Ray said.

Technology also eases the business-end of things, Weitzer says. While clients are surveying potential companions, escort-service managers can look into clients with a background check or even a simple Google search.

Payment is easier, too.

"It's often convenient to have an account established with a balance, so if you have the last-minute urge, you don't have to worry about getting money into the account," says Norma Jean Almodovar, executive director of the sex workers' rights organization COYOTE ("Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics") in Southern California.

Emperors Club VIP, the high-end prostitution organization Spitzer allegedly was involved with, was brought down when banks noticed frequent cash transfers from several accounts and filed suspicious-activity reports with the Internal Revenue Service, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press.

The accounts were traced back to Spitzer, and public-corruption investigators opened an inquiry.

It's a long way from leaving cash on the dresser.

Cell phones are handy, too. According to court documents, some details of the alleged appointment Spitzer had with a prostitute were arranged via text message. She was even instructed by her home office to send a text message when he arrived so the office could start the clock ticking on his allotted time, according to court papers.

Devices such as Web cams also have created new opportunities, Almodovar said.

For instance, if a customer is traveling and wants to talk with a prostitute, "he can just go on the Internet and she can be in her home, and he can be in Europe, and they can have long-distance sexual dalliances," Almodovar said.

But even with so much electronic evidence, authorities permit a lot of prostitution to happen without repercussions.

"On the one hand, they're advertised, openly. So you know it exists, and you're letting it go. But then they're not taxed, or prosecuted, unless it becomes a quality-of-life issue or (involves) a public figure they happen to run across. Think of all that cash," said Assistant Philadelphia District Attorney Rich DeSipio, who is assigned to the sex-crimes unit.

And sex workers also can use high-tech measures to avoid getting caught.

High-end call girls might use bug- and camera-detection equipment to look for surveillance devices, said Jimmie Mesis, editor in chief of Professional Investigator Magazine.

Police often don't find the equipment until after they make an arrest, Mesis said. "They realize, 'Look at this. She has a bug detector. She has a hidden-camera detector. This is a pretty sophisticated set-up here."'

But for every client who is revealed, no one knows how much prostitution remains hidden.

"The surprise should not be that (Spitzer) was a client, but that he got exposed," Almodovar said. "Despite the technology we have, 99 percent of them will never get discovered.

"If we didn't have so many clients, we wouldn't be prostitutes."

[rf35]

Legalize it, regulate it, tax it - remove the criminal element - ''cause it ain''t going away.
Posted by oleander8 at 08:32 AM : Mar 12, 2008

Exactly! Requlation and taxation. The amount of money that goes into this now is staggering. If the government can dip into that pot (no pun intended), maybe we wouldn''t have to worry about taxes skyrocketing other things. Use prostution to fund universal health care or education! Ain''t so immoral now, is it? Legalize it and you force the sleazy back-ally types out of business or into a legitimate environment. Mandate periodic health checks to keep the kitty clean. It''s not that hard (again, no pun intended)!

[extremophil]

So....My American Express will cover this? I can use the points, too.

[jwind11]

People like Spitzer and Bush believe that they can make the laws that we must abide by, but they can ignore.

We are all part of the same hypocrisy.


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Posted by Ksjeff at 10:16 AM : Mar 12, 2008

article not about bush.....another idiotic post here

[ksjeff-2009]

A wise friend told me once, "it''s only illegal if you get caught doing it".

People like Spitzer and Bush believe that they can make the laws that we must abide by, but they can ignore.

We are all part of the same hypocrisy.

[jwind11]

end the american evangelical police state,

two million americans in prison, the government stooges will come for YOU next.


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Posted by joyous88 at 05:35 AM : Mar 12, 2008

what an idiotic post

[jjarden]

Why don''t they just make Prostitution legal throughout the country, like in Nevada, and in Europe. It''s really quite puritanical and prudish, and the REASON WHY there is "Human Trafficing" in $ex workers living under SLAVE conditions is BECAUSE it is ILLEGAL, and a BLACK MARKET Business with no oversight. They need to wake up and make the Business Legitimate with Government Oversight and Regulation, and regular Medical Screenings and Taxation. It is a Victimless "Crime," and merely an economic transaction between two parties that are willing to exchange value (Money) for value (Service). We go to get our haircut and pay the hairstylist...we go to get our teeth cleaned and pay the Dental Hygienist... there is Absolutely NO reason why men shouldnt be able to get their rocks off and pay the $ex Worker.

[briannorwood]

I guess this is what Reagan/Bush meant by saying the rich would invest their money wisely for the rest of us. - ubrew12


Yeah. You never heard of "Trickle down the thigh economics?

[runningralph]

*** mongers and drug addicts are in favor of leaglizing their vices. The ******, pimps and drug dealers, while they don''t like going to jail, don''t really want legalization because that would lower prices. In Las Vegas catalogues are passed out on the street with girls'' names, photos and phone numbers. I''m sure those girls in the catalogues don''t get $1000 per hour. The real question with Gov. Spitzer is: With whose money was he paying the ******?

[oleander8]

Legalize it, regulate it, tax it - remove the criminal element - ''cause it ain''t going away.

[fibonacci_]

I agree, legalize prostitution and soft drugs.

[joyous88]

this shoud not be against the law, neither should drug use,

let the people be free,

end the american evangelical police state,

two million americans in prison, the government stooges will come for YOU next.

[ubrew12]

I guess what bothers me is not that there are prostitutes, but that there are prostitutes that make 1000 dollars/hour. Business for them is booming now that Reagan/Bush have cut taxes on the wealthy. I guess this is what Reagan/Bush meant by saying the rich would invest their money wisely for the rest of us. Meanwhile, education in America is at an all time low. If we could only find a way to turn our children into prostitutes...